Sleet Princess (Sleet #4)

“And then they showed the clip of you winking at her from the penalty box,” she whispers, like that’s even worse than the rest.

“What’s wrong with winking?” I ask, but she ignores me.

“Is this how you act after your games? You go out, get drunk, and publicly canoodle with Sleet Sluts?”

“Mom!” If I didn’t feel so close to puking, I might laugh at hearing her sayslut. “That’s the name of one fan club; it’s not what we call… the girls.” I cringe as I say it.

“No?” Mom’s tone is full of exasperation. “Well, what should I call this girl?”

Either I’m in, or I’m out. And as much as my chest hurts right now, I know what I’m going to do.

I take a breath. “You can call that particular girl my wife.”

There’s a second of silence before I hear the phone clatter out of her grasp.

Chapter 66

Natalie

My hands are still tremblingfrom the confrontation, but I know what I have to do.

I sit down behind my desk and pick up my phone.

It only takes me a few minutes to get the head of public relations on the line.

“What can I do for you, Miss Wagner?”

I tap my fingers on the desktop, eyes on the pink band circling my ring finger. “We need to put out a statement.”

“What is the statement about?” she asks, but I’m sure she’s been alerted to the video by now.

“About the videos. And letting everyone know it was a private, heated moment between myself and my husband, Luke Anders, on our wedding night.” I pause for a moment while she gasps. “You can add an apology or whatever your department deems necessary. But I’d like the world to know that it was a private moment between a married couple. Which we all know is much less scandalous.”

“Okay, um, we can do that. When would you like it out?”

“Within an hour,” I answer.

If those videos are blowing up, we need to address it immediately. I can only hope Luke goes along with the story. Because there’s no avoiding it now.

Chapter 67

The Unreturned Text Messages

Princess: I’m sorry for how everything went down yesterday. I know it was bad. Can we please talk?

Princess: I understand why you’re mad. I would be too. But we need to talk about it.

Princess: Please answer thephone.

Princess: Luke, we can’t just avoid this.

Princess: It’s been a week. If you want to just do the divorce, we can, but you need to answer me.

Princess: I’m trying to be understanding, but you need to talk to me. Let me explain. I won’t do it over text.

Princess: So you can talk about our “whirlwind romance” in a postgame interview, but you can’t answer my texts?

Princess: You know how to get a hold of me.